Why The Pirates Could Be The Villains In 'Skeleton Crew'
Image Source: IGN
Star Wars: Skeleton Crew is shrouded in mystery. There’s no official trailer yet, no release date, no names for any of the characters, and no antagonist. We can speculate, though. The smart money, at least at this point, points to pirates being the main villains of the series. Here’s why.
Let’s start with what we do know. A 2023 press release from Disney said, “Skeleton Crew follows the journey of four kids who make a mysterious discovery on their seemingly safe home planet, then get lost in a strange and dangerous galaxy. Finding their way home – and meeting unlikely allies and enemies – will be a greater adventure than they ever imagined.” So, four kids are the heroes of the story.
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That jives with the statements of Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm. She said, “Jon Watts [the co-creator of the series] came to me, very much wanting to do a sort of Goonies in Star Wars.” That’s the first clue that pirates just might be the main antagonists. Goonies is famously about a group of kids trying to find pirate treasure.
While there has been no trailer to date, fans at Star Wars Celebration 2023 got a sneak peek of Skeleton Crew. The sneak peek has not been leaked, but reports say that Vane, a pirate from The Mandalorian, was in the footage. That’s one pirate. And there’s another confirmed pirate. Jaleel White, of Family Matters fame, said at a hockey game (!) between the Edmonton Oilers and the Vegas Golden Knights, “I'm actually gonna be in a new series on Disney+ starring Jude Law, called Skeleton Crew. Yeah, it's coming out in November, November/December, and it's part of the Star Wars universe. So that's a big change for me, man! I had to do two hours of makeup every day — I get to play a pirate.” It’s unlikely there would be at least two featured pirates without the pirates playing a prominent role. What better role than as foils to our heroes?
Another thing we know is when Skeleton Crew takes place. It is going to be contemporaneous with The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, and Ahsoka. That is a few years after Return of the Jedi. At the time, the galaxy is in a bit of chaos as the New Republic is struggling to establish itself. It is the perfect environment for pirates to thrive.
More importantly, when trying to establish the pirates as the main antagonist of Skeleton Crew, is the pirates’ appearance in season 3 of The Mandalorian. In Chapter 21: The Pirate, pirates attack Nevarro, the home of Din Djarin’s friend Magistrate Greef Karga. Djarin rallies the other Mandalorians and they go to rescue Nevarro from the pirates. In exchange, they are given a plot of land where they can rebuild their society. It is where we are first introduced to Vane (who escapes) and the pirate king Gorian Shard (who does not escape).
The thing is, The Pirate is just an odd episode of The Mandalorian. Tonally, the pirates don’t fit with the standard Mandalorian villain. They are a lot goofier. They are almost like something out of. . .The Goonies. Plus, the plot thread that is established by the pirates is almost immediately dropped when the Mandalorians decide to go back to Mandalore to rebuild their society. It’s like whatever the pirates were setting up was, or will be, on a separate show.
So, for those four reasons, the similarity to The Goonies, two confirmed pirates in the cast, the period that the show is set in, and the pirates’ appearance in The Mandalorian, it sure looks like the pirates will be the main villains of Skeleton Crew. Having pirates opens up lots of possibilities. It could give us a closer look at the underworld of Star Wars. And it could be an opportunity to bring back the fan-favorite character Hondo. That alone would make Skeleton Crew worth it.
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